The first round of the Chad Pennington vs. Jets contract renegotiation bout has not gone well for the Jets.

Two people with knowledge of the goings on said Pennington’s agent rejected the Jets’ proposal that the quarterback make $1 million in base salary this season and have the chance to earn the remaining $8 million back in incentives.

Chances are the two sides will come to some sort of accord, somewhere in the middle, because they need each other.

Pennington, who’s due to make $9 million this season ($3 million roster bonus due March 3; $6 million base), doesn’t have a lot of leverage in that the Jets probably are the only team in the NFL that views him as a starter.

And, if Pennington is released, he’ll likely be signed somewhere else to a contract that will pay him $1 million (or even less) in base salary, and he might be deemed a backup with no chance to win a starting job.

As an NFL source said yesterday, “The guy that thinks he’s a starting quarterback is in Kansas City now,” referring to Herman Edwards.

Pennington already has cashed in $22 million in guaranteed money since signing a seven-year, $64 million contract at the end of the 2003 season. Because of injuries, he’s played in 18 games, 16 in the past two seasons.

Though two Jets players told The Post on Wednesday that they think Pennington should be released because he’s too injury-prone, there also is a good amount of support from his teammates.

The question, however, is: When will he be able to throw at game speed? No one truly knows that answer, and that’s hardly a bargaining chip for Pennington, either.

If Pennington is cut before June 1, he’ll cost the Jets $12 million on the 2006 salary cap. The Jets, once they officially release CB Ty Law and rid themselves of his $11 million March 3 payment, will be about $15 million over the cap.

The Jets currently are speaking to several veterans other than Pennington about restructuring contracts to shave that cap figure down. Curtis Martin is one of them; Kevin Mawae, to date, is not.

As for John Abraham, the Jets have not yet placed the franchise tag on him, according to sources close to the defensive end. If they do, it will cost the Jets $8.3 million this year after paying him $6.7 million last year. Then he’ll almost certainly be used as trade bait in a sign-and-trade scenario, because Abraham has lost his patience with the Jets.

“It’s still up in the air,” the source said. “But I think they are going to [franchise] him.”